Partial redemption?
The July jobs report released on Friday was a sweet upside surprise compared to the battering that took place last month. Private sector payrolls increased by 154,000, government jobs fell by 37,000, leaving a net payrolls increase of 117,000. The unemployment rate now stands at a whopping… 9.1 per cent — down from 9.2 per cent in the month before.
Further relief will come from revisions to the previous two months’ figures: May and June estimates now stand higher by 56,000 net jobs.
We’ll get the release for you when the BLS website technicians pick themselves off the floor and get their site back online again.
Let’s not forget, though, that 117,000 is a great result for this week but it’s still not a great result for the overall US economy. Apologies for glibness, but 9.1 per cent is still an awful lot like 9.2 per cent. Nevertheless, markets seem happy-ish in advance of the New York open (click to expand):
We’ll be updating this post periodically, and remember that we’ll dissect this beast and what it’s done to global markets at 10am New York time, 3pm London time, on US Markets Live.
Related link:
An awful June employment report: payrolls up 18,000… – FT Alphaville